Penn State wrestling notches 1,000th dual meet victory

On Monday night at the Bryce Jordan Center, head coach Cael Sanderson’s No. 1 ranked Nittany Lions hosted Rutgers for the 2024 BJC dual. With a 35-3 win, Penn State moved to 10-0 on the year and 7-0 in the Big Ten while dropping the Scarlet Knights to 10-5 and 3-4 in the conference. 

The win marked the 1,000 dual meet victory for Penn State in its illustrious history and the milestone was accomplished with the Nittany Lions winning nine of ten bouts. Two wrestlers moved up weight classes and scored wins. 

After two ranked matchups at 125 and 133, the dual was tied at 3-3. No. 2 ranked Braedan Davis at 125 won 4-1 over No. 19 Dean Peterson, but Rutgers answered with a 9-6 win at 133 with No. 10 ranked Dylan Shawver of Rutgers taking down No. 6 Aaron Nagao of Penn State. 

The Nittany Lions dominated from that point on. The most impressive wins came courtesy of senior Terrell Barraclough and sophomore Lucas Cochran. 

No. 1 Carter Starocci was not wrestling, so Barraclough had to move up a weight to 174 and still beat No. 13 Jackson Turley. Cochran made an even bigger jump from 197 to 285 where he replaced No. 1 ranked Greg Kerkvliet for Penn State. Cochran cruised to an 8-3 win with two takedowns of No. 8 Yara Slavikouski. 

In total Penn State recorded 15 takedowns to Rutgers' four and the Nittany Lions scored eight points courtesy of pins by sophomore Levi Haines at 157 and senior Aaron Brooks at 197.

Penn State will be back in action at home on February 18 at 4 p.m. ET against Nebraska from Rec Hall.